


Of Sea Monsters and Safety

by embolalia



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-14
Updated: 2014-11-14
Packaged: 2018-02-25 07:32:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2613521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embolalia/pseuds/embolalia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a place like Haven, it's important to have an emergency meeting spot, especially if you're eight years old.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Sea Monsters and Safety

On Tuesdays at 11:00, Mrs. Sardini knocks on the door of the third grade classroom and sticks her head in, asking brightly for her friends Duke and Nate. Nathan squirms, fuming, but Duke grins at the other kids, glad to get out of class. The two of them follow Mrs. Sardini down the tiled hallway to the cozy little office where she tries to get them to talk about their feelings.

She tells them about grief, about denial and anger and depression all being normal. Nathan’s rigid with all of those and more as Duke watches him. The counselor is focused on Nathan’s silence, but Duke could tell her he’s the one who’s not normal. The first thing he felt when he found out his father died was relief. She alternates encouraging them to share and waiting patiently, but neither of the boys says much. 

“Nate,” Mrs. Sardini says today, trying to get him engaged after a long half-hour of Duke making something up about how he’s not sure if he’ll like fishing anymore. 

Nathan leaps to his feet. “Don’t call me that!” He runs from the room as Duke watches him in delight. 

When the counselor turns back he just shrugs in surprise. “I guess we’ll see you next week.”

When Duke gets back to the classroom, Nathan has his head down on his desk and Miss Barton is talking to the class about emergency meeting spots, about where the class’s fire drill location is and how they should be sure to talk to their moms and dads about family emergency spots, too. Duke catches Nathan’s flinch.

They kick through leaves as they walk home, piles of red and brown and yellow that make a satisfying shushing sound beneath Duke’s feet.

“Do you have an emergency spot?” he asks Nathan. It’s been nagging at him all afternoon. His mother isn’t going to make one, it’s not worth bringing up, but it does seem like a practical idea.

Nathan shakes his head.

“There’s a lot that can get you in Haven, you know?” Duke asks. “My dad told me once about people who can come out of the ocean like sea monsters and you have to be careful.”

“Like Godzilla?” Nathan perks up.

Duke hesitates. “Well, that could probably happen too, here. Or a kraken, even!”

Nathan frowns. “So it can’t be anywhere too close to the beach.”

Throwing his arm across Nathan’s shoulders, Duke grins. “We’ll find somewhere.”

***

It takes them three afternoons to settle on a place: under the porch of Nathan’s house, where the lattice around the sides keeps them from being easily seen and keeps bigger animals out. There is an argument over whether sea monsters could just crush the house and them underneath, but they settle on keeping a path to the exit clear at all times.

On Friday they lie together on the bed of moss they’ve made, staring out through the lattice at rain falling on the grass and soaking the leaves. Duke props his chin on his hand, focusing on a diamond that’s all cloudy sky. Are there boats out in this storm? “Hey,” he finally says, testing. “Nate.”

There’s no explosion, not like there was at school with Mrs. Sardini. Just Nathan dipping his head to study the dirt. “That’s what my mom called me.”

Suddenly there are tears in Duke’s eyes, on his cheeks. His mom’s never had a nickname for him, doesn’t even look at him like she recognizes him half the time. He’s a terrible son. Nate doesn’t say anything, but not in an awkward way, just a quiet way. When Duke’s wiped his face on the sleeves of his jacket, he looks over. “Why aren’t you crying?”

The other boy shakes his head, and even if he isn’t crying he does look sad. “I couldn’t cry at her funeral.”

“So?” He’s not trying to be flippant, but Nate turns away.

Most of what gets people is their guilt, that’s what Duke’s father used to tell him. Maybe that’s what’s wrong with Nate, Duke thinks. He thinks he should have listened better.

***

All fall and into the winter he watches, waiting for Nate to cry. He distracts Mrs. Sardini in their sessions to protect his friend’s privacy, but when they’re along he niggles and nudges, mentioning Mrs. Wuornos, asking about what moms are supposed to be like. He doesn’t get much of a response, but it is a good way to avoid talking about his own family or why they always play at Nate’s house.

When it finally happens he isn’t waiting for it: Nate’s sled goes straight down the big hill behind the Haven Herald into a tree and by the time Duke reaches him Nate is sobbing uncontrollably, looking stricken and guilty and a bloody mess.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” Duke says, pulling off his glove and reaching to touch Nate’s leg. His friend shakes his head hard, to say it’s not, and Duke catches his shoulder to stop him. Blood from his obviously broken arm has already soaked through Nate’s snow jacket, and as Duke makes contact something runs through him, a sudden rush of strength.

Nate scrubs at his face with his glove, then stares at Duke in fear. “I can’t feel anything.”

Duke stands, pulling Nate upright. His legs are wobbly and loose, as if they've fallen asleep and can’t hold his weight. “It’s okay,” Duke promises. He wipes Nate’s cheek where a branch has scratched him badly and finds himself strong enough to pick his friend up, to carry him all the way to the hospital.

By the time they get there both their faces are dry.

***

For a long time after that, things aren’t okay. Nate’s father gets mad when he finds out they’ve been playing together, and when he comes over to tell Duke’s mom about the accident he threatens to arrest her. For the rest of the year Duke’s mom hires a babysitter, and Vanessa picks Duke up after school and makes sure he stays away from Nathan. Duke’s pretty sure his mom pays Vanessa with pot.

By June, the Troubles have reached a point where half the kids in the class go to the grief counseling group for one reason or another. Mrs. Sardini looks tired when she knocks on the door and reads out the list: her friends Nathan and Duke, Maureen, Hanna, Sally, Casey, Carla Rose, and Bill Jr. After Jimmy Glendower disappeared Mrs. Sardini just came to see the whole class for a few weeks, but that’s over now. Instead of her office they have to sit in the cafeteria.

“So who would like to start, today?” the counselor asks them all, not quite as cheery as she used to be. 

Hanna starts crying, so Duke jerks his head at Nathan. “I think Nate wants to!”

The look his friend gives him is furious. “Don’t call me that!”

It’s so unjust that Duke is struck silent for a moment. “But—”

“How about Bill?” Mrs. Sardini suggests.

Duke kicks Nate under the table once, twice, three times before Mrs. Sardini frowns at him and he remembers. They never talked about what happened last winter, about sledding. Duke smirks at Nate’s bowed head. If he doesn’t want to be friends any more, the rest of them can have some fun with this.

***

He steals the tacks from Miss Barton’s desk one at a time for two weeks. She doesn’t even notice; it’s easier than sneaking coins off his mother’s dresser.

Duke goes first, clapping Nate on the back with just enough force that the tack goes in. It feels so good it has to be wrong, strength shuddering through him as he grins wildly, trying to remember what he was going to whisper in Nate’s ear. The other boys crowd around, continuing the prank. Duke staggers back against the wall as he tries to catch his breath.

Nate’s angry afterward, but he doesn’t break. He stares down the hallway at Duke, looking completely betrayed. Duke can’t figure out why he’s the one who feels like crying.

***

Vanessa is agitated after school as they walk along the beach, even before they reach the crowd. There’s a body on the sand, a stranger. Vanessa stands watching, pale and trembling. 

Duke knows, just knows, that a sea monster did it. Came right up out of the water and killed whoever it is. He pulls free of Vanessa’s hand and runs, fast and without thinking, all the way to Nate’s house and under the porch.

Nate is already there, curled up against the side of the house. He sits up so fast when Duke appears that he bangs his head, but he doesn’t seem to notice. “What do you want?” he demands.

“It’s the kraken!” Duke says, still gasping from the run. But his excitement dies immediately. Nathan’s shirt is still stained with blood and it sends a thrill through him even as it reminds him of the look on the other boy’s face earlier. 

“I don’t believe you,” Nate says. “Go away.”

Duke hasn’t been under here in months, and only now does he look around, taking in the old pictures of his friend’s mother tacked up along the beams of the porch. “Look, Nate,” he says.

The other boy shoots toward him, tackling him back out onto the grass. They tussle, Nathan getting in a few punches. Duke doesn’t fight back, just tries to wrestle free. Nathan wouldn’t feel it anyway. When they finally separate, Duke lingers for a moment, wondering if this was enough of a punishment, if his bruises will mean he’s forgiven now. Nathan’s glare says otherwise.

“I’m sorry,” Duke offers.

Nate’s frown weakens and his gaze drops. “I don’t care,” he says, his voice rough. “Go away, the Chief will be home soon.”

“It was an emergency,” he insists. “Your dad’s down at the beach, I bet. Somebody died.”

“My mom died,” Nate whispers.

Duke nods. 

“I miss her.”

The world feels like it’s falling out from under him. He doesn’t miss his dad; he wouldn’t miss his mom. He’s not allowed under the porch.

“Duke!” It’s Vanessa, shouting as she walks up the steep driveway. “You know you’re not supposed to be here!” She groans at the sight of him, dirty from the fight, and gives Nathan half a wave. “Come on. That photographer says she needs to talk to us.”

Duke follows her back to the beach, stopping only once to look back, to wonder if Nathan is behind the lattice watching him go.

***

A few weeks later there’s a meteor storm, and the day after that Nate comes to school grinning because he can feel again. Mrs. Sardini tells them that since a few of their classmates lost family members to the meteors, the two of them don’t have to come to the counseling group anymore, and aren’t they doing so much better now?

When the other kids leave the classroom, Duke slides down a couple desks to Hanna’s seat. He elbows Nate and gets an elbow in his own ribs in return. While Miss Barton drones on about multiplication, Duke draws Godzilla attacking the rows of problems marching across his worksheet.

Nate leans over with his own pencil, carefully settling Mothra on the line where Duke’s name should go.

“Nathan!” their teacher calls out, and Nate snatches his hand back so fast he gets a paper cut on the edge of the worksheet. Clenching his hand around the wound, he gives the answer to whatever problem is on the board.

Duke brushes the drop of blood he left across the paper, deciding it makes a nice addition to the scene that’s unfolding. As he draws a giant squid with a genuinely bloody maw, Nate’s hand bumps his arm, filling in the corner of the page. And there they are, two figures in the shadow of a house, safe.

**Author's Note:**

> My first Haven fic! I played a little fast and loose with the 1980s timeline, but...creative license? :)


End file.
